


Fuck You Bob

by thenakednymph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I hate that episode on so many levels, Keith was lying, Lance (Voltron) Deserves Better, Lance (Voltron) Whump, M/M, fuck you bob, healing emotional trauma, my son deserves better than that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 03:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19309861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenakednymph/pseuds/thenakednymph
Summary: After the Game Show Keith confronts Lance to tell him the truth.AKA Lance deserves better





	Fuck You Bob

**Author's Note:**

> Someone just reminded me of how much I still fucking HATE the game show episode. Have some Lance validation.

“Where’s Lance?”

The others look around the temporary camp they’ve set up for the night but Lance is nowhere to be seen. 

Hunk scratches at his head, a worried pout settling over his mouth. “That’s weird. He was just here.” 

“Well he has to be around somewhere. It’s not like he could have gone far,” Pidge mutters, walking past with a crate in their arms. “Red’s still here.” They gesture towards the lion with their chin.

Keith frowns. “Okay, thanks.” He looks around distractedly. “If you see him let him know I want to talk to him.”

Hunk nods, going back to prepping something for dinner. 

“Sure.” 

~

It takes Keith over an hour of searching to find Lance, Red’s mind brushing distantly over his own in a way he hasn’t felt for months, catching his attention. 

“Come on Lance,” he mutters, looking around. He’s standing on a rock formation, searching the terrain all around them but there’s still no sign of Lance. He’s starting to worry. 

“Where are you?”

Red pushes at him more insistently, finally drawing his full attention. 

_ Red?  _ He can hear a deep purr resonate in his head and follows it back to their lions. He stares up at the massive robot towering over him and feels the reassuring brush of Red’s mind. She’s happy to see him but she’s worried too. 

Keith can’t see if Lance is up there, not with the dark and not from this angle but he knows he is. 

He climbs all the way to the top of the lion and finds Lance stretches out atop Red’s massive head, staring at the stars. 

“Lance?” 

He startles at Keith’s voice, snapping upright and wiping hastily at his face. Guilt eats away at Keith, his heart sinking as he realizes Lance is crying. 

“What?” Lance snaps at him, defensive and angry. He has every right to be. 

Keith steps off the ladder and onto Red’s head, the sound echoing sharply under his boots. 

“I need to talk to you.”

“Can it wait?” 

Keith wishes it could but it’s waited long enough already.

“No.” He says it as gently as he can.

Lance glares, shoving his way to his feet and stomping past Keith, the faintest flash of tear tracks on his cheeks in the moonlight. 

“Well it’s gonna have to,” Lance snaps, marching past him. “I’m not in the mood.” He shoulder checks Keith as he goes, marching for the ladder and escape. If he were wearing his armor he would have just jumped.

“You’re not stupid.” 

Lance forgets how to walk, his feet cementing themselves to the metal and holding him in place at the words. The tears on his face are suddenly burning into his skin. His breath freezes over in his lungs and he chokes, a flush of shame scorching through him. Is he really that transparent? 

He can hear Keith’s footsteps echoing against the metal of Red’s hull as he comes closer but Lance can’t make himself move. 

“You’re not stupid,” Keith says softly, coming to stand beside him. “Or dumb. Or an idiot or any of the other horrible things they said to you.” His fingers brush Lance’s wrist and he flinches away, crossing his arms over his chest, glaring in the opposite direction.  

Keith steps into his field of vision and Lance huddles deeper into himself, hiding, and Keith’s heart aches. 

“And I’m sorry. For anything I said or did to make you feel like maybe that was true.” 

He steps closer and Lance squeezes his eyes shut, fingers curling tightly in his arms. 

“Because it’s not. You’re one of the most clever and strategically minded people I’ve ever met.” Keith’s voice is soft but firm, trying to make Lance understand, to heal the wounds the game show has left behind. 

“You’re a hell of a shot and probably one of the most talented marksmen to ever come out of the Garrison,” Keith goes on. “And I can’t believe no one’s ever told you that.” Lance opens his eyes but still won’t look at him. 

“You’re compassionate and empathetic and charismatic in a way none of us could ever possibly hope to be.” Lance peers up at Keith from under wet lashes, arms still huddled close. There’s something hungry and broken in his eyes. 

“I couldn’t do this without you,” Keith admits. “I couldn’t.” He says it again when Lance looks ready to scoff. “I mean it. You keep me grounded when I can’t think past the emotion. You see things I can’t and think of things that would never occur to me. You keep us together.” He steps closer and touches Lance’s cheek. This time he doesn’t flinch away. 

“And I lied,” he admits, swiping away his tears. “When Bob asked me why I picked you.” Lance tries to pull away, the vulnerability in his eyes shuttering but Keith won’t let him go, catches his arm to keep him from running. 

“I lied because how I feel about you is none of his business.” Lance’s eyes are wide and glossy with tears but he’s finally looking at Keith. 

“I chose you because of all of us you deserve to go home the most. You want it the most.” His eyes are searching, willing Lance to understand. 

“It would make you happy. And I  _ want _ you to be happy. 

“I would rather spend an eternity trapped in that room so you wouldn’t have to, than to stand there and watch everything beautiful and alive about you wither and die.” His thumb strokes over Lance’s cheek. “Your spirit is too alive to be stuck in one place forever. It would kill you. And I can’t stand to watch that happen.” 

Lance sobs, his head falling into Keith’s hands, fingers looping weakly around his wrist, turning into his calloused palms. 

“I am so sorry,” Keith whispers, cradling his face. “For every way they broke your heart.” His thumbs trace patterns through the tears, wiping them away. “You didn’t deserve it.” 

A wretched sound wrings its way out of Lance as he crumbles and Keith pulls him into his chest, holding him as he falls apart. Lance cries into his shoulder, every aching part of him bleeding out the pain and sickness of the words Bob had inflicted on him. Keith’s words slowly stitch him back together again, healing the damage one piece at a time, filling Lance with warmth and relief and comfort. 

It isn’t enough to fix what’s been done, but it’s a start.

Lance squeezes his eyes shut, reaching for the last wounded part of himself, turning it over into the light.

“I’m in love with you,” he gasps wetly, knees shaking beneath him, still heartsick and afraid, gripping loosely at Keith’s shirt. No matter what happens, he has to say it, has to get it out before it can fester any more than it already has. 

Keith presses a kiss to his hair above Lance’s ear, holding him tighter, arms sneaking around his back. 

“I love you too.”

Lance’s shields shatter around him and he breaks apart, every part of him left vulnerable and raw. 

Keith slips in around rubble, covering the wounds with his words and whispered reassurances. His fingers are in Lance’s hair, soothing the pain away.

“You didn’t deserve that,” he says softly. “You never did and if I could take it back and change it, I would.” He presses his lips to Lance’s hair. “I’m so sorry.” 

Lance hiccups. “It wasn’t your fault.” 

Keith pulls back, wiping at Lance’s tears until their eyes meet. “But I didn’t make it any better either.” 

Lance smiles for the first time since the incident, leaning into Keith’s hands like somehow Keith deserves that kind of trust and softness. His smile is weak and faint but it’s there. 

“You just did.” 


End file.
